Improvement in needle-threaders for sewing-machines



B. P. ELLIOTT.

Needle-Threaders for Sewin g-Maichines. VN0.\49,580. Patented April14,1874.

Wilmcsses: {Ah/7 WM ITNTTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN P. ELLIOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN NEEDLE-THREADERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 149,580, dated April 14, 1874 application filed March 14, 1874.

- of a needle-threader for sewing-machines that will afford increased facility and expedition in the application of the same to and withdrawal from the stationary or fixed needle, and in the operation of threading the latter; and my in vention consists, substantially, in the peculiar construction and arrangement of eyelet-blocks and operating-springs, together with the adj nstable stop and spring for bringing and holding the eye of the machine-needle and the eyelet of the blocks in juxtaposition for threading, and the subsequent withdrawal of the threader, as will hereinafter be more fully set forth and described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front-side elevation of my improved threader, showing the eyeletblocks closed together for guiding thread into the eye of the needle; Fig. 2, a front-side view of the same, with the eyelet-blocks parted; Fig. 3, a rear-side view of the same; Fig. 4, a plan view of the upper edge of the threader; and Fig. 5, a view. or elevation of the rear end of said threader applied to'needle.

The eyelet-blocks a. a are two small blocks of metal permanently fixed to the respective ends of a spring of wire, bent toward each other so as to press the two inner edges of the blocks closely and accurately together. The eyelet-hole l is made transversely through the contact-edges of said blocks in a horizontal direction, and of a conical form tapering from the front side, shown by Figs. 1 and 2, tothe rear side of the said blocks, where it ends as an opening not larger than the eye of the needle, to which it is to serve as a guide for the entrance of the thread thereinto, into a vertical groove, 2, (see Fig. 3,) which receives the eye end of the needle-not shown in said fignre. The thumb-spring b and the spring-bar c consist of a narrow strip of sheet metal bent and secured so as to clasp the bow or near end of the spring a firmly. at the angle end of the bent strip. The end which extends along the front side of the threader is out OK and bent inward toward the spring a, and has its two side edges beveled or sloped toward the free end of the bend, so as to form a wedge, b, with its end between the two arms of the spring a, at a point which will leave the bent end of the said thumb-spring I) clear of the front or near ends of the blocks a a and allow the spring b to be readily pressed inward at the wedge end, and thus, by the pressure of the operators thumb upon the said spring I), force the arms of a from each other, and consequently separate the blocks a a. The other arm a of'the narrow strip of sheet metal extends along against the rear side of the wire spring a and across the rear sides of the two blocks em, and

consequently across the vertical groove there-' in. It is split at its end so as to leave an open space, 3, corresponding in width with the width produced between the two blocks when separated, as shown in Fig. 2, and also made thin, so as to yield readily in applying the threader to the needle and in withdrawing the said threader from the threadedneedle. (See Fig. 3.) The adjustable stop 01 is a thin plate of sheet metal, slotted along its midwidth and adjustably secured, in a vertical position, to a supporting-stem, 4, by means of a screw-bolt, 5, which passes through the slot into the supporting-stem 4. The two ends of d are bent rearward so as to afford at the upper end a notch for the stem of the needle, in applying the threader thereto, and at the lower end a hole for the stem 4 to slide in, in adjusting the stop d upon the stem, so as to bring the eye of the needle always in juxtaposition with the eyelet-hole l of the blocks a a in applying the threader tothe needle in the sewingfimachine needle-holder. (See the dotted lines in Fig. 5, in which the needle 6 is shown in connection with the threader.)

The threader is applied to a needle in the holder of a sewing-machine in the manner following herein, viz: The operator holds the implement between her thumb and finger, with its stem and stop vertical, or parallel to the needle. The upper end of the stop dis placed against the shoulder of the needle-holder of the sewing-machine, and the stem of the needle in the notch of the stop, and then the threader is moved downward, so as to cause it to receive the eye-end of the needle between the clamp- I claimin g-strip or spring-bare and the vertical groove The needle-th reader, consisting of the spring 3, and this, if the step d has been properly ada, blocks a a, adjustable stop (I, stem 4, wedgejusted on the stem 4, brings the eyelet-hole 1 like thumbspring I), and split spring 0, all conof the said implement into juxtaposition with 'structed and operating as set forth.

the eye of the needle, and enables the operator to thread the latter with instant facility, and. BENJAMIN I. ELLIOTT. then, with like facility, withdraw the said implement by pressing her thumb sufficiently on Witnesses:

the spring I) to part the blocks a a, and thus BENJ. MORISON,

leave the threaded needle in place. \VM. H. MORISON; 

